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3DTotal: Do you approach each artwork as if potentially for print? What complications do you come across when printing your artwork; for example, do you find it difficult to achieve the same quality of printed artwork as what you see on your screen? What steps do you take to make sure you get good results every time?
Cyril: As a digital artist, I do indeed think about prints because, after all, they are a part of my income. One complication is size: until I get that expensive printer that can deal with size you’d commonly see in professional businesses only, if I want to print above a certain size I have to rely on external printing services and thus, I have less control over the results. Colour correction is the other issue. Whilst I can do test prints at home and make changes with Photoshop until I am satisfied with my own prints, I don’t have this luxury when I deal with outside businesses. It can become a costly trial and error experience, as I realised that the changes made on my machine are often only valid between my screen and printer, and not necessarily with other machines. I do calibrate my monitors and make sure I assign the right colour profile, but still: what you see isn’t always what you get. So far, software calibration relying on my eyes only hasn’t been proven 100% satisfactory. So I searched for hardware: electronic eyes to replace mine and I found the new Pantone hueyPRO hardware (for MACs and PCs), which might solve my problems. It’s affordable and I can keep my real eyes, too! |
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3DTotal: You’ve categorised your portfolio into: Paintings, Concepts and Flats. Which of these genres do you feel is your strongest, and why?
Cyril: Paintings as I certainly spend more time on them and the result tends to show. It depends on the subject matter, really. I am still trying to find my “voice” or style of painting, because whilst I am comfortable with my present state, I am not particularly fond of it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike it, but I know that I can do better and I also roughly know where I want to go... it’s just that the road is trickier than it seems and there’s a lot of traps along the way. I feel I’ve stepped in every single one so far. It’s a learning process, certainly. Concepts are probably mis-titled, as it should be “ideas”. I tend to approach those differently: I think of ideas as doodles, whereas I think of concepts as more representative of a final image that has been stopped halfway or so - semantics, really. |
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3DTotal: You mention having stepped in many traps along your path so far… Can you give us some examples of some of the hurdles you have had to overcome? What affect does each “trap” have on you?
Cyril:A relatively new, seemingly unavoidable trap for me is “no!”. You are told that sometimes, you just have to refuse work, especially if your schedule is getting cramped to the point of uneasiness. It has happened to me and I did refuse a few jobs indeed, but there's also that horrible dilemma of not wanting to refuse because the money is good, and also because you are afraid to anger the AD, and potentially never get a job from that person again. With AD who you work often with, it's usually not an issue, they will understand that you can get busy at time. However, with a new AD who offers you a potential good job, you take a risk. I still regret an advertisement job that was seemingly perfect for me because I had too much work. I refused and they told me that they'd keep me in file for the next time, but that next time never came back. I might still be in file, but that very job seem to have been a one-of-a-kind. So, that was lost opportunity. What is even more annoying is that it turned out that due to circumstances beyond my control, I would have had the time to work on it, in fact...but I couldn't know that at the time. Recently, however, I did the opposite and accepted extra works that created a few weeks of Hell for me, and I wished I said no that time. It's really about knowing and managing your time properly, and obviously, I'm still learning...Sometimes you just have to say “no!” and let it go. |
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3DTotal: Your works seem to all follow narratives. Would you say this is a fair comment, and can you briefly talk us through your typical working method, from concept to the finished piece?
Cyril: I think so. I like to present a moment in time that has more to offer in the mind of the viewer. That is: let him imagine what happened before, or will happen after that frozen instant. Let the viewer immerse himself in the universe without revealing every detail and let him participate as a passive protagonist. It also tends to add depth to any characters or actions: it’s like in a movie where one can appreciate complex characters that clearly have a deeply researched past, or be bored to death by flat individuals. I don’t have a typical work method per se. It depends on the ideas, subject matter and so forth, but I often start with a sketch - whether on paper or directly on the computer - and try to elaborate as much as possible at that stage, getting rid of all the problems now so they don’t haunt me later on when I start painting (still happens, though).
Once I have the sketch locked I scan it if necessary and start adding layers and paint. I typically switch between Photoshop and Painter. I use Painter mostly for paintings and Photoshop for flats. I also try to make it “different” from the stuff I usually see in other illustrations. Now this is dangerous territory
because I don’t want to insult anyone. My style right now isn’t defined by brushstrokes, but rather by subject matter and the weird take or humour applied to the situation. A lot of illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and to the point, masterfully executed and flawless, but aren’t necessarily interesting (that’s obviously a very personal opinion), and whilst I can’t compete with their skill level – and don’t want to –
I try to find my own path by adding my own quirky, dark view to the experience. So if by adding a bunny to an image it will make it look weirder but better, I’ll do just that (incidentally, my Staring Contest was born that very way).
3DTotal: So where do you source your inspiration from to keep your narratives interesting?
Cyril: I suppose that general knowledge is my main source. The more you know, the more you are capable of making the links between A and B and why it could be funny/work/deliver a message/get a reaction, and so on... To keep with the same example as above, the bunny in Staring Contest is a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but then again the Reaper is also one to the Meaning of Life or Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, etc - the list can go on for a while. I hunt for either popular connotations or fish for really obscure references that I have accumulated over the years. I read books (slowly), watch movies and check the news semi-regularly, and use Wikipedia as much as possible to learn about any details I could add to a piece. Another example would be “The Birth of Cthulhu”, which is seemingly just a portrait of a man eating seafood, but if you are aware of H.P. Lovecraft’s life and literary work then this image takes a completely new dimension; full of details, winks and subtleties only available to the connoisseur. The more general knowledge you have, the better you are at understanding the ramifications of the messages in my paintings as I tend to purposefully, and as much as possible, layer facts and details within my images.
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3DTotal: You say that you don’t want to compete with artists or copy their styles, so let’s say for example that you’re the very first digital illustrator in the world, and you can therefore take on and develop literally any style you wish: which artist/style do you think you would aspire to, if you could get there first?
Cyril: Ah! Interesting question… It wouldn’t be one style. I would have to mix the styles of Alphonse Mucha with N.C. Wyeth, J.C. Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell, with a touch of Frank Frazetta,John Singer Sargent,Jon Foster and Gregory Manchess. I could add more artists of course, but the list will run long, and... It’s really their brains that I’m after.
3DTotal: Thanks for taking time out for this interview, Cyril. It has been a real pleasure and I wish you all the very best for your future..
Cyril: Thank you kindly, always a pleasure.
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